Attachment for coat hangers



April 23, 1946. w

ATTACHMENT FOR COAT HANGERS Filed July 14, 1944 V IN V EN TOR. @aymoga R. Mara HTTORNEYG Patented Apr. 23, 1946 cars!) STAT-ES PATENT OFFICE ATTACHMENTJFOR COAT HANGERS ,RaymondR. Ward, Brecksville, Ohio Application July 14, 1944, .Serial No. 5244;843

3 Claims. ,(Cl; 223-.86)

This invention relates to novel and'improved attachments for garment hangers.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple attachment for a garment hanger, serving simultaneously as an aid in retaining the garment on the hanger, and as a container for moth crystals or other compound of insecticidal character.

Another object is to provide an attachment of the nature indicated, and which can be rapidly applied to or removed from operative position on i the hanger when desired, but which will ordinarily maintain said operative position when not manually dislodged.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the nature described, adapted to be manually snapped into garment retaining position on the opposed shoulder supportingends of a conventional coat hanger, or dress hanger, said attachment having an internallydisposed, insecticide-containing chamber adapted to retain said insecticide, but to permitnormal sublimation thereof.

Another object is to provide an attachmentof the character indicated, having a chambered portion and closure means adapted to carry pictorial or printed matter in the nature of commercial advertising.

Other objects and advantages are in part-obvious, or will be apparent as the description of the invention proceeds.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a garmenthanger equipped with garment retaining means embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, considerably enlarged, taken on the line 2-'2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view, also enlarged and partially broken away to show parts in section, of the said garment retaining device;

Fig. 4 is a View in side elevation of a slightly modified form of the deviceshown in Figs. lto 3;

Fig. 5 is a View in vertical section of another embodiment of the invention; while Fig. 6 is a view in vertical section of still another embodiment of the invention.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it is to be understood that such invention is not limited to the details of construction and/ or the specific arrangement of parts herein illustrated and/or described, as the invention obviously may take other forms. It also is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein employed is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

While the invention now to be disclosed in ay,

with slight changes, be adapted for use with a wide variation of garment hanger sizes and types, it will be illustratedand described as applicable to the well known and widely used wire frame garment hanger shown in Fig. 1. Such hanger reception of a quantity of insecticide.

may be inexpensively manufactured from a single piece of heavy gage steel wire.

Certain garments, and particularly feminine attire, are retained on hangers of the type illustrated, only by taking special precautions. This is especially true of light weight garments of material of low frictional characteristics, such as silk, satin or similar textiles, and also garmerits normally supported by shoulder straps, which straps have a tendency to slide laterally and downwardly so as to eventually fall from the hanger.

To meet this situation various expedients have been developed, involving the use of pins, clamps, special hangers, etc., many of which expedients marthe neatly pressed appearance of the garment sh'oulden or require somewhat more complicated types of hanger, or detract from the ease and speed with which it is frequently desirable to insert a garment hanger in the garment, or remove it therefrom. I

I have devised an attachment for a garment hanger of the conventional coat hanger type, by the use of which the above mentioned disadvantages are avoided. In addition to serving as a readily applied means for retaining a garment on thelhanger, my attachment device may be formed with an internal chamber therein for the convenient reception of a quantity of insecticide of the moth crystal type. Several embodiments of my invention are shown in the drawings and will now be described. As will appear the attachment consists of a member which is adapted to be snapped into place on the shoulder extremities of awgarment hanger, and which, by surface friction alone, serves to maintain the garment in place.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the drawing shows a wire frame coathanger l I having the conventional shoulder portions i2, which incline outwardly and downwardly to merge, at their outer lowerextremity, with the integrally formed cross bar l3. As indicated in Fig. l, and in somewhat enlarged form in Figs. 2 and 3, my garment retaining device is snapped into position within the slightly curved apex of the angle 14 formed by the meeting of shoulder l2 and cross bar I 3.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the attachment consists of a one piece discoidal body it, preferably formed of rubber or rubberlike material-such as the rubberlike synthetic plastics.

"It is initially molded, or otherwise formed, to provide a hollow interior chamber i 8 for the ultimate The peripheral edge of the discoid is provided with a slot H which is somewhat enlarged internally to provide an annular channel is for the reception of the wire portion l2 as will appear. Two opposed axially disposed openings I9 are formed to permit communication withthe interior chamber I6. The discoidal body so far described may be initially cast or molded, all structural characteristics being formed during the molding operation. It will be apparent as the description proceeds that while I may prefer the specific contour just described, the device may be formed with an external approximately spherical cona tour, or a slightly flattened sphere of the oblate spheroid type. It will also be apparent that the slot I l and the channel I8 may not be completed peripherally, but may be of limited segmental extent. It will be further apparent that one fiat face of the discoid may be axially imperforate, only one opening I9 being necessary.

The manner of application of the device to its operative position is now apparent from the drawing. The discoid is inserted within the angular shoulder portion of the garment hanger and is moved to the left to final position, the wire I2 being forced-with gentle pressure into slot II until it snaps to a seat in channel IS. A garment strap which might have a tendency to slide down shoulder 52 will be arrested upon contact with the raised edge portion 22 (Fig. 3). .Either before or after assembly, as described, a charge of moth crystals may be placed in chamber I6, the openings I9 being adapted to be closed by suitable means such as disks 23 which may be conveniently snapped into undercut annular seats 2d.

Sublimation of the insecticide may be permitted through suitable apertures, bored either in the disks 23, as shown at 26, through the body, as at 2?, or into the groove I8, as at 28. One or all of such apertures will prove quite satisfactory. A slightly modified form of the device just described is shown in Fig. 4. In this modification the peripheral circular edge of the disk has been segmentally interrupted to provide said edge with a shoulder 25 which is of additional value in preventing garment slippage.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 5. This embodiment comprises a two piece discoidal receptacle adapted to be applied to a garment hanger in approximately the same manner as above indicated. The device, as shown, is assembled by uniting two separately formed cuplike members 32 and 33. Each said member has an inwardly extending centrally disposed boss portion, is and'tt respectively, said boss portions having partially telescoping complementary portions 36 and 37 which snap into mutual engagement to maintain the parts in the operative relationship shown. The boss portions may be hollow to provide an axial bore constituting a chamber 38. The parts maybe pressed or stamped from' sheet metal, or cast from moldable organic plastic, or from rubberlike material sufiiciently stable to maintain an operative position on a hanger. The hanger wire snaps between the peripheral meeting edge portions of the disc members. Prior to final assembly the hollow chamber 38 may be filled with insecticide, as in the previously described embodiment. Closure disks 39 may be used to seal the axial chamber in any suitable manner.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 6. In this embodiment the garment retaining attachment consists of a sphere 5B of readily deformable material such as rubber or the like. The sphere is provided with a segmental slot 45 adapted to receive the shoulder portion IZof a garment hanger as shown in Fig.

6. As is well known, pressure applied to a de-.

formable sphere of this character in certain locations relative to the ends of the slot, causes the slot to open thereby permitting insertion of insecticide therewithin. When the sphere is forcibly applied to a garment hanger, as shown in the figures, the tension on the slot ends tends to stretch the slot endwise and this brings the longitudinal edges together so as to retain the insecticide crystals.

Attention has heretofore been directed to the disks 23, 24, 39 which serve as closures for the charging openings in one or other of the embodiments already described. These disks may be caused to serve a commercial as well as a utilitarian purpose. The garment retaining attachments such as are here disclosed may be manufactured in considerable quantities, at low cost, for organizations such as garment cleaning firms, tailors, laundries, hotels or similar organizations which seek public patronage. The distributing source may apply its name, or slogan, or other distinctive printed or pictorial matter to the external surface of the disks, for the advertising value involved, since the attachments frequently come to the notice of the user.

What I claim is:

l. Garment retaining means for attachment to a garment hanger, said means comprising a discoidal member, having a circumferential slot extending peripherally around a surface portion thereof, said slot having relatively deformable edge portions adapted to receive and releasably grip a shoulder of said hanger, a portion of said discoidal member projecting above said shoulder for frictionally engaging a garment to thereby assist in its retention on said hanger, said discoidal member having walls defining a chamber for the reception of an insecticide, at least one of said walls having a charging opening therethrough, removable closure means for said opening, said walls also having at least one perforation therein to permit sublimation of said insecticide therethrough.

2. Garment retaining means for attachment to a garment hanger, said means comprising a discoidal member having a circumferential slot extending peripherally around a surface portion thereof, said slot having relatively deformable edge portions adapted to receive and releasably grip a shoulder of said hanger, a portion of said discoidal member projecting above said shoulder being shaped to provide a radially disposed abutment for engagement with a garment carried by said hanger to thereby assist in the retention of said garment on said hanger, said discoidal member having walls defining a chamber for the reception of an insecticide, at least one of said walls having a charging opening therethrough, removable closure means for said opening, said walls also having, at least one perforation therein to permit sublimation of said insecticide therethrough.

3. Garment retaining means for attachment to a garment hanger, said means comprising a pair of cup shaped members having inwardly pro- J'ecting, mutually engageable attaching means for maintaining said members in juxtaposition with their open peripheral edges in mutual registry to thereby define, between said members, a

a chamber adapted to receive and retain a shoulthereby assist in its retention on said hanger.

RAYIVIOND R. WARD. 

